My First Day at Hogwarts
by RaineYlevol
Summary: Teresa is a spunky young girl who discovers that she is a wizard and then becomes unsure of her magical strength when she is accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Meeting a friend on the way, her destiny in magic approaches...


My First Day at Hogwarts

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, it still was all so _new _to me. Breathing shakily, I tried to make sense of it all. I was a wizard. I was a wizard whether I liked it or not. Just a month ago, I had received my admittance letter with the strange waxy, ivory parchment, list of peculiar materials needed, and written in the smooth calligraphy, read my name.

Teresa Ileana Evergreen

I had been in a shock so abnormal, waves of major emotions flooded and drowned me. First came the relief that I wasn't a freak after all of the mysterious cases of vanishing objects, tap-dancing flowers, and floating books that rose above my elementary school desk. Next, the doubt and pain in one ugly little package. I doubted I could control my magic or perform it at being told to, or even fitting in with the students who had known their whole life. Pain blanketed and devoured every other sense left alone in my body as I realized I would have to leave my family for an entire year, and not able to tell my friends of the crazy adventures I knew I was in store for.

"Hey? Do you mind if I sit here?"

My head was suddenly brought back to earth as I turned away from my depressing gaze out of the _Hogwarts Express_, and saw a slender, oriental girl whose arms were weighed down with textbooks-and a cosmetic kit?

"Hello? Can I sit here?" The melodic, yet pressing voice impatiently inquired as I answered with my head still partly in the clouds, "Oh, yeah. Sure, whatever."

I watched the girl set her books down on the floor fluently, her long glossy black hair swinging to the floor of the compartment.

As she settled in, I noticed with my stomach lurching she was already in her uniform, complete with a floor-length robe, tight cream knee highs, a pleated navy skirt, and a white button down shirt partly covered with her sweater vest.

With her dark, almond shaped brown eyes sparkling, she asked me, "So, what house do you want to be in?"

I bit down on my lip confused and answered, "I honestly don't know! What are they again?"

Rolling her eyes at my lame excuse, she replied, "You're a muggleborn aren't you? Well, there is

Gryffindor for athletic and brave people, Hufflepuff for shy extremely hard workers, Ravenclaw for artsy brainiacs, and Slytherin for depressed, evil scumbags with no life."

I suppressed laughter at her last remark and asked, "What about you?"

She beamed with a confidence, "I'm hoping for Gryffindor, but I guess Ravenclaw wouldn't be that bad if they weren't all smarter than me."

"I'd say Gryffindor too." I added, surprised at my sudden comfortability with the stranger.

A short moment of silence passed as I unfolded my brand new robes with a happy sigh, maybe things would work out here.

The girl looked up from her fashion magazine and suddenly remembered to ask, "Hey, what's your name?"

I grinned and said, "Teresa. Yours?"

She wrinkled her nose, "The entire thing?"

Suddenly intrigued and interested, I nodded vigorously in encouragement as she sighed unhappily and said, "Lin Sa Mei Son Yakamoto Hukasoki, but that was in Japan. Here, I just go by Lisa!"

Smiling and nodding, I saw a castle in the distance. It was _enormous!_ Large arches continued around the entire structure like the loopy McDonald's fast food logo, yet set in marble and stone rather than a disturbing fluorescent yellow. Turrets climbed and rested among the great buildings and I saw scattering professors hurrying along the long, tunneling bridge that stretched over a deep, dark lake.***

***The Black Lake to be exact.

With a jerk, Lisa's head spun around and she glanced at me disapprovingly saying, "You'd better change into your robes, cause' I am pretty sure that that's Hogwarts!"

Nodding, I bustled over to the bathroom compartment, pulling on the uniform with ease.

Once everyone had left the locomotive, we piled into 15 small boats and were led above the dark,clouded water with an air of mystery lurking about us.

I trembled from anxiety, and the chilling cold; this wasn't the palm beach Florida I had grown up in. Not even close.

Clambering out onto the moist ground, I caught up with a shuddering Lisa and we followed the eerie light of the lantern carried by a large, hairy man with a bushy black beard, and hands larger than a dining platter. He led us into the building and I gasped in wonder and awe at Hogwarts.

Dripping ivory candles floated above our heads, and Lisa pointed out the magnificent ceiling which was strewn with glittering white stars, and misty clouds torn across the "sky". Our group walked in the middle of 4 tables; every one packed with wizards 7th grade-12th grade and up to the front table where I guessed the professors sat and dined.

One man, tall, willowy, and slender stood in the center with a frothy, snow white beard trickling down to right below his bony waist. His wrinkled hands were raised, and his body cloaked in vibrant crimsons, golds, and whites as his hoarse, friendly voice rasped, "Let us welcome our latest addition to Hogwarts," as the crowd of students applauded and hooted, he continued gracefully, "Now, Professor McGonagall please bring forth the sorting hat and let us begin."

It was absolutely nerve-racking as every new student (mostly myself) waited for the shabby, ratty singing hat to tell us our destiny here, and even though I knew that I needed to be in Gryffindor, fear silently crept into my mind.

_Who am I kidding?_ I thought nervously twiddling my thumbs and watching Lisa apply a fresh coat of lipstick, _For all I know, I could end up a Slytherin! The hat might think I'm depressed because I'm so nervous, and that will keep me out of Gryffindor!_

"Hukasoki, Lin Sa, please come forward to be sorted." Lisa stuck her metallic tube of lipstick in her cloak pocket, and with a deep breath, stood up and walked up to the stool without a shred of nervousness showing.

The moldy old hat's twisted face screwed up in concentration and deep thought when it suddenly announced, "Gryffindor!"

I applauded as Lisa happily skipped over with a satisfied grin across her face, and then the next name was read.

"Lovegood, Luna."

It finally hit me: they had skipped over my name! Panicking as I watched a girl with dirty blonde hair streaming down her back approach the hat, I read over every last name they had read. _Archer, Cummings, Calsypher, Delarosa, Frances-_

"Ravenclaw!"

My head spun as the other names past by in a sped up blur, _Octavia, Preston, Royce, Ruxton, Vaughn, Weasley. _I was the last student still sitting on one of the cushions, numb and stricken with fear. It was as if I were invisible, the professor had picked the hat from the stool and with anger boiling inside me, I stood up crying, "Wait! I wasn't sorted!"

The Great Hall went silent and Professor McGonagall froze where she was at my outburst. "Excuse me?" She asked sternly over her spectacles.

"I," I began to say while reddening deeply, "I wasn't sorted." Professor McGonagall turned to the headmaster in confusion and he beckoned me forward to the stool.

I could sense in my bones that every eye was on me as I strode down the center of the tables with my small steps seeming much too loud from the silence of the hall. Plopping down onto the stool with my heart hammering loudly and my pulse quickening, I felt the soft brown fabric of the sorting hat brush my head.

To my surprise, I could hear the murmur of the hat whispering in my ear, "Hmm... we made quite an entrance didn't we, Teresa? Well, that shows courage, but also the meaning to be center of attention or even be noticed..."

I interrupted the hat at the last remark and muttered, "Please don't place me in Slytherin, please! I don't belong there!" I panicked and met Lisa's worried eyes.

"Well then, GRYFFINDOR!"

I felt relief wash over me as I left the stool and listened to my table stomp their feet and applaud. Maybe... just maybe things will work out here after all.


End file.
